Research Fuels Need for Career Literacy

Career Literacy is having the knowledge and skills necessary to successfully navigate the workplace of the 21st Century. To understand why Career Vision advocates Career Literacy, it is critical to gain a broader perspective on changes that have taken place in the last several decades and consider the implications for the future.

The book, The Ambitious Generation: America's Teenagers, Motivated But Directionless, (Barbara Schneider and David Stevenson, Yale University Press, 1999), provides great anecdotal and quantitative information comparing the educational and career aspirations of adolescents in the past four decades. Let's look at some snapshot data:

• 90% today versus 55% of high school students four decades ago expect to complete a four year degree

• 70% of the students today versus 42% that expect to work in professional jobs
  

• There are six times more students expressing career aspirations to be physicians and five times more students aspiring to become lawyers than there are jobs available.

This study funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation showed that these ambitious young students and their families are definitely concerned about their future and see the college degree as essential for their success. This is due in large part to the regularly reported findings that a college degree or level of education is a good predictor for income level over the lifespan.

What is frightening about their findings is they report that most of the adolescents are not aware of what it would take to achieve their career goals. Too often families view getting accepted into a college as the solution to the career question. In line with the Sloan study, the Career Vision staff has observed that the decisions families make about college and academic major choices and how they link to career paths are generally not approached in an informed or planful way.

Students and their parents often have a limited understanding of the many potential jobs available and the educational paths that prepare students best. This is not unexpected. Today there are more choices, greater competition and many demands on our time. College career center resources are most often focused on internships and job placement and underutilized until graduation is imminent. While all of this is not surprising it does contribute to over 50% of adults reporting dissatisfaction with their work.

Parents are often are so relieved to see their student launched in college, they may be quite comfortable if their student remains undecided about their academic major. Yet university
administrators know that these undecided students, without academic and career goals, are at highest risk for poor academic performance and dropping out. The statistics are alarming: today, 30% of college students leave school at the end of their first year and another 30% take five or six years to earn their degree.

Historically, achieving a college degree in itself was a differentiator for a young person. Education is no less important today, however, it is not enough. Having goals, the right credentials, and required skills and experience gives students the competitive advantage they need.

We believe that when students in this "Ambitious Generation" know and use the best career tools available to them, they can achieve the level of Career Literacy they need to reach goals that are appropriate and realistic. Together, we can help these young people move into the workplace to begin to make their unique and needed contributions.

© Copyright 2006, Career Vision / Ball Foundation. Article may be reprinted with permission.

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